Granted, it’s a regular season NBA game in January, but just like the L.A./Boston Christmas Day showdown (that seemingly sent the C’s into a tailspin that they’ve yet to recover from), tonight’s Celtics/Cavs tilt is an important psychological test for both teams. Can Boston recover — they’ve lost six of their last eight — or will their losing streak extend to four games? Can the Cavs back up that brilliant record or are they going to bend to the will of KG and The Truth in crunch time? Cleveland is only 2-2 in their last four games, losing to the lowly Wizards on Sunday, so it’s not like they’re brimming with confidence right now.

This is one of those Alpha Dog games. Whoever wins will have the psychological edge. For the Celtics, a win would probably break them out of their funk. For the Cavs, a victory would give this young team the confidence that they are indeed ready to take down the big dogs in the East.

Game time is 8 PM ET, just over an hour from now.